Stranger With My Face International Film Festival is back for its 5th edition and will take place in Hobart May 4-7. The festival will have a line-up of feature films, a shorts program, a symposium, industry events and an art exhibition. Stranger With My Face focuses on women’s perspectives in genre filmmaking with an emphasis on horror and related genres.

This year’s program includes a retrospective of the celebrated New Zealand filmmaker Gaylene Preston. Roxanne Benjamin’s Tasmanian premiere of the all-female horror anthology XX and a screening of Wes Craven’s The People Under the Stairs with its cinematographer, Sandi Sissel ASC.

“Stranger With My Face is a place for newcomers get their films seen and to meet like-minded artists,” says Festival Director Briony Kidd, “But it’s also very much about highlighting older work that’s ripe for rediscovery.”

Gaylene Preston ONZM is one of New Zealand’s most highly regarded filmmakers. While primarily known for her work in documentary and factually inspired drama, Preston will screen two films at Stranger With My Face 2017.

PERFECT STRANGERS (1991) isa “chilling romance” which stars Rachel Blake and Sam Neill, and the lesser known MR WRONG (1983) which has recently been championed by cult cinema connoisseur Quentin Tarantino, who said “I loved the woman who was the lead in it… she would never be the lead in the American version of that movie. And there was something so authentic about seeing her trapped into this supernatural story.”

Veteran cinematographer Sandi Sissel (CHICKEN RANCH, SALAAM BOMBAY, MASTER AND COMMANDER) will attend the screening of THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS, followed by an in-depth discussion around the artistic challenges involved in the 1991 Wes Craven production will also be a mentor for The Attic Lab.

More information on the Attic Lab, including this year’s filmmakers and featured projects, will be announced on April 24th. Last year’s inaugural intake included Donna McRae (JOHNNY GHOST), whose project KATE KELLY was picked up by producer Stephanie Trepanier ofSnowfort Pictures and pitched at Fantasia’s Frontières Market. Natalie James, whose project RELIC was funded for development through Screen Australia Brilliant Stories Initiative and Indonesian filmmaker Ginanti Rona Tembang Asri, whose debut feature MIDNIGHT SHOW had its international premiere at the festival.

Festival Passes are now available at an Early Bird rate. The full program will be announced next week on www.strangerwithmyface.com, with individual tickets available to purchase online and Festival Passes at standard rates.

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Rosalia likes to spend her nights watching Netflix or reading a good book. Her interest for horror came from a very young age. Her mother nurtured this obsession and she thanks her for it. She also thanks the film IT for her dislike for clowns. She is currently finishing her Bachelor Degree in Cinema and Television Arts and hopes to be behind the camera shooting the next big thriller.